This is a momentous occasion for me.
There is a certain satisfaction that comes from having achieved this milestone, although this is not the first of my blogs that I have achieved it on. It shows conviction and stick-to-it-tiveness. Key ingredients for success.
When I first began planning for this centennial post I thought I'd plot out the next 100 blogs and what direction I'd want to take. Problem is, I change over time and the nature of this blog has changed along with me.
Unless I decide to 'clean' it up at some point, you can go back and find some posts where I talk about the future of this blog. What it is now isn't what I had envisioned then. Know what? That's okay.
I do have a plan and this blog is just one part of that. However the great thing about a blog is it's a part of a journey. It's always a reflection of where I am now. In general, I get wiser and better as I go along.
So, after 100 posts - what have I learned?
"Do or do not. There is no try." ~ Yoda
When I first heard those words, as a youth, I intellectually got what Yoda was saying but I didn't really 'get' it. Now, I get it. You are either absolutely committed to doing what it takes to get a result or you are not getting the result. Period.
When I started this blog, I was like 95% of the people reading this blog, and others such success blogs. I was looking for 'the answer' or 'the secret'. That 'thing' that if I just knew that one (or two or three) 'things' that were holding me back, I'd be rocketing to success. My potential would be unleashed and I'd be unstoppable!
After a quarter century of studying here's what I've found: What's stopping you is an intolerance to risk.
You have got to learn to love failure.
Society has this notion that 'failure' is a horrible thing to be avoid. It's not. It's an essential part of life. It's like breathing. If you're living you're bound to experience it. So why do we spend so much of our time avoiding it? Because it's unpleasant, or we perceive it as such because we wrap up too much of our emotions into getting a positive result.
Early on in this blog I wrote a couple posts of how life 'Seperates the Wheat from the Chaff'. That life is designed that way. Failure is the stick that's beating the wheat. If you can embrace failure as merely a means to an end then you're wheat. If you run from the threat of failure - your chaff.
I've said it a thousand times (or at least a hundred, once for each post - lol) successful people don't just succeed more, they fail more. But you don't hear about all their failures (except for Edison and the light bulb) you hear about their successes. But those successes all came after unsuccessful attempts. That's true for everyone in history from Bell to Jobs.
They learned to not get upset when things didn't work out as hoped. Odds are they won't a lot of the time. So just accept that two steps forward, one step back, is a part of life and keep walking forward.
Enough on that, I've preached that too many times already.
You're still wondering what's holding you back.
You.
There's no one else. It's you.
You're afraid. For whatever reason, being where you are is more comfortable than being where you 'want' to be.
So you want a magic bullet. That's why you're here yes? To find that 'one secret' that will TA-DA make the difference in your life.
Okay, here it is.
Step 1: Go fail. That's right. Get off your ass, do that thing, whatever it is, that you've been wanting to do and go right ahead and fail at it.
Get it out of the way!!
Now, you might screw it up and actually succeed, oops, but let's assume you really are as bad as you subconsciously think you are.
Step 2: So you tried and failed. So now you can either justify doing nothing for the rest of your life (stop reading, go cry and carry on being dissatisfied) or you can try and fail at it again. Yeah, that's right, fail at it again.
Now this time, there's is a much higher likelihood you'll accidentally succeed, so don't say I didn't warn you but let's assume you don't. Cause, like me, and Bell, and Edison, and Steve Jobs, and countless others, you suck. At least at first.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2 until you've 'accidentally' succeeded.
I'm being facetious here but you get the point. There is no other secret. There's the constant willingness to try, a willingness to learn, belief (in yourself or God), determination and sticktoittiveness. And a lot of effort.
That's it.
The reason I'm saying to fail is because once you've become accustomed to failing, it loses it's sting. It's just another step on the road to success. Because anyone who is absolutely committed to doing something, to learn from their mistakes, to model what works, and just keep on, keeping on is guaranteed to achieve.
That's nothing new. You could have told me that. So, do you want to 'succeed' or not? If you do, you've got some failures to face and some success to embrace. I look forward to meeting you along the way.
There is a certain satisfaction that comes from having achieved this milestone, although this is not the first of my blogs that I have achieved it on. It shows conviction and stick-to-it-tiveness. Key ingredients for success.
When I first began planning for this centennial post I thought I'd plot out the next 100 blogs and what direction I'd want to take. Problem is, I change over time and the nature of this blog has changed along with me.
Unless I decide to 'clean' it up at some point, you can go back and find some posts where I talk about the future of this blog. What it is now isn't what I had envisioned then. Know what? That's okay.
I do have a plan and this blog is just one part of that. However the great thing about a blog is it's a part of a journey. It's always a reflection of where I am now. In general, I get wiser and better as I go along.
So, after 100 posts - what have I learned?
"Do or do not. There is no try." ~ Yoda
When I first heard those words, as a youth, I intellectually got what Yoda was saying but I didn't really 'get' it. Now, I get it. You are either absolutely committed to doing what it takes to get a result or you are not getting the result. Period.
When I started this blog, I was like 95% of the people reading this blog, and others such success blogs. I was looking for 'the answer' or 'the secret'. That 'thing' that if I just knew that one (or two or three) 'things' that were holding me back, I'd be rocketing to success. My potential would be unleashed and I'd be unstoppable!
After a quarter century of studying here's what I've found: What's stopping you is an intolerance to risk.
You have got to learn to love failure.
Society has this notion that 'failure' is a horrible thing to be avoid. It's not. It's an essential part of life. It's like breathing. If you're living you're bound to experience it. So why do we spend so much of our time avoiding it? Because it's unpleasant, or we perceive it as such because we wrap up too much of our emotions into getting a positive result.
Early on in this blog I wrote a couple posts of how life 'Seperates the Wheat from the Chaff'. That life is designed that way. Failure is the stick that's beating the wheat. If you can embrace failure as merely a means to an end then you're wheat. If you run from the threat of failure - your chaff.
I've said it a thousand times (or at least a hundred, once for each post - lol) successful people don't just succeed more, they fail more. But you don't hear about all their failures (except for Edison and the light bulb) you hear about their successes. But those successes all came after unsuccessful attempts. That's true for everyone in history from Bell to Jobs.
They learned to not get upset when things didn't work out as hoped. Odds are they won't a lot of the time. So just accept that two steps forward, one step back, is a part of life and keep walking forward.
Enough on that, I've preached that too many times already.
You're still wondering what's holding you back.
You.
There's no one else. It's you.
You're afraid. For whatever reason, being where you are is more comfortable than being where you 'want' to be.
So you want a magic bullet. That's why you're here yes? To find that 'one secret' that will TA-DA make the difference in your life.
Okay, here it is.
Step 1: Go fail. That's right. Get off your ass, do that thing, whatever it is, that you've been wanting to do and go right ahead and fail at it.
Get it out of the way!!
Now, you might screw it up and actually succeed, oops, but let's assume you really are as bad as you subconsciously think you are.
Step 2: So you tried and failed. So now you can either justify doing nothing for the rest of your life (stop reading, go cry and carry on being dissatisfied) or you can try and fail at it again. Yeah, that's right, fail at it again.
Now this time, there's is a much higher likelihood you'll accidentally succeed, so don't say I didn't warn you but let's assume you don't. Cause, like me, and Bell, and Edison, and Steve Jobs, and countless others, you suck. At least at first.
Step 3: Repeat Step 2 until you've 'accidentally' succeeded.
I'm being facetious here but you get the point. There is no other secret. There's the constant willingness to try, a willingness to learn, belief (in yourself or God), determination and sticktoittiveness. And a lot of effort.
That's it.
The reason I'm saying to fail is because once you've become accustomed to failing, it loses it's sting. It's just another step on the road to success. Because anyone who is absolutely committed to doing something, to learn from their mistakes, to model what works, and just keep on, keeping on is guaranteed to achieve.
That's nothing new. You could have told me that. So, do you want to 'succeed' or not? If you do, you've got some failures to face and some success to embrace. I look forward to meeting you along the way.
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